


Ballet is Beauty, Ballet is Grace (ballet is also like a punch in the face)

by flowerfred



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, an attempt at humour as always, ballerina!jihoon, ballerina!samuel, ballerina!seonho, ballerina!taehyun, basically seonho’s coach is a jackass, but also angst (i mean i'll try), guanlin has horrible friends, it is i back again with the guanho, so does seonho, the ballet/dance academy au no one asked for, the cube chicks own my entire heart i'm sorry for doing this to you seonho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 07:58:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12813093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfred/pseuds/flowerfred
Summary: Guanlin sucks at ballet.Guanlin's friends just kind of suck in general.





	Ballet is Beauty, Ballet is Grace (ballet is also like a punch in the face)

Guanlin hated his friends.  
All of them.  
Without any exceptions and no, Jisung's puppy eyes would not change anything about that. At all.

When Seongwoo had suggested that all four of them, himself, Daniel, Jisung and Guanlin sign up for ballet classes at their local sports center, Guanlin had thought it was a bit weird, especially coming from him but he hadn't suspected anything like this happening.

"We will have fun together as friends", they had said, "we'll be the prettiest ballerinas ever", they had said, only for Guanlin to show up at the first ballet class and to learn that "no, there isn't anyone signed under these names, sorry."

They had pranked him. By making him sign up for a ballet class he did not even want to do and by having him go through said class, failing miserably. Guanlin truly hated them.

When he had just accepted that he would have to go through the lesson without his asshole friends, he noticed that the class consisted of himself, five girls and one other boy that quickly approached him with one of the brightest smiles Guanlin had ever seen.

The Taiwanese boy had always been a born introvert and judging by the other's radiating energy the feeling arose in him that the latter was not going to notice, let alone Leave Him Alone.

The boy looked a tad younger and shorter than Guanlin himself and he had shiny black hair, dark brown eyes, a pointy nose and he was wearing black leggings, a tight white t-shirt and these weird things that looked like socks made out of some kind of leather but were, as was soon explained to him "slippers", shoes, specifically made for ballet dancers. 

Overall, Guanlin felt horribly out of place with his grey sweat pants and his pastel pink shirt that said "don't talk to me unless it's about pokémon" and everything in him was screaming at him to leave before the younger could approach him and initiate conversation.

"Hey, my name is Yoo Seonho! Who are you?"  
Too late.  
"Uh, I'm Lai Guanlin", he muttered lowly, hoping he would miraculously disappear or get run over by an overmotivated ballerina practicing her Tourpiqués.

"Oh, you have an accent, that's so cute! Where are you from?", the shorter boy exclaimed, sounding genuinely like he was curious and not like he was mocking Guanlin, making the other release a soft sigh of relief and resignation over the fact that he would not get away from talking to the ravenette.  
"I'm from Taipeh", he murmured and smiled a little awkwardly, noticing the way Seonho's eyes lit up in admiration.

"That's so cool, h-! Are you even a hyung to me?", as Seonho looked him up and down, Guanlin felt a blush creep up on his cheeks and he unconsciously let his eyes roam over the other's features. 

"He is really pretty" was the first thing Guanlin noticed as he studied Seonho's face. Smooth, clear skin, bright eyes and rosy lips that looked very soft and for some reason reminded him of cotton candy. 

"When were you born?"  
His face flushed bright red and he was suddenly glad the other couldn't read his mind because he was pretty sure that "cotton candy lips" was something you would not want to hear about yourself from a stranger.

"September 2001" remembering to be polite he added "and you?"  
"Aw man" Seonho pouted "Why is no one younger than me, I am a reliable and respectable person, why won't anyone ever call me hyung!" and with another glance at Guanlin's face he murmured "And you don't look older than me, this isn't fair."

Guanlin felt his mouth run dry and he helplessly stuttered out a "Sorry" even though he didn't know what he was supposed to be sorry for. Surprised, Seonho looked up at him and broke into another one of his dazzling smiles, only this time it was accompanied by a tiny giggle that made the older boy's heart skip a beat.

"I'm only kidding, hyung, I love being the youthful force that keeps the world going" as he posed, imitating every statue of an emperor ever, Guanlin couldn't help but let out a chuckle himself,  
"Yeah sure, whatever you say"

As Seonho was just about to reply to him, the ballet teacher appeared in front of the class, telling them they had a new student called Guanlin and that they should take good care of him. Apparently everyone, apart from him, had been dancing for several years now and Guanlin felt a wave of panic wash over him.

They started out slow, by doing exercises on the barre, like Pliés or Rondes-jambes, that even he managed to do more or less easily and the Taiwanese boy was just starting to relax, when suddenly the teacher started throwing his leg to the sides, slightly hitting the ground with his foot and then making his leg go higher and higher just to suddenly bring it back again and do the same movements again but this time to the back.

Guanlin tried his hardest to follow, he truly did but after approximately 10 seconds he gave up, there was no way he could move this quickly and perform movements this sharp and precise.

When he let his gaze wander around the room he found his eyes being drawn to Seonho who seemed like he had never done anything else in his life than practicing Frappés which was apparently what the devil's exercise was called, even though Guanlin really didn't see what it had in common with the delicious drink he would buy every now and then to feel less like a broke highschool student.

The younger boy looked so effortless and Guanlin envied him for how natural and smooth his movements looked but apart from that he just looked absolutely beautiful and the other could just stare at him in awe.  
There was no hint of the beagle-like smile on his face but he looked concentrated, fierce, mature and just overall like a cooler version of himself that left the slightly older boy speechless.

When they moved onto Pirouettes, this admiration turned into pure envy, how dare he spin so effortlessly, even doing double-pirouettes at some points, when Guanlin himself struggled with putting his feet in the right position to even start the move. 

However, even if he kept telling himself that he should focus on getting the move right himself, he found himself staring at the younger boy way too often.

The way he would quickly and with light steps change his position every now and then and start over with the turns, spinning around himself more quickly every time was truly mesmerizing.

And when after the lesson the teacher came up to him to tell him "Don't worry, don't let yourself be intimidated by how good Seonho is, you'll do fine yourself, you will soon be able to elevate from your...rather low level", Guanlin decided that from now on, Seonho would be his rival even if he was ridiculously pretty and nice, he knew, he was not going to give up on his pride like this.

What he did not know was the way Seonho would break down later that day, back again at the ballet academy, all alone, heaving for air, in the corner of the big, lonely practice room with tired eyes staring right back at him from out of the mirror.

Sleep started slowly taking over his body and he was ready to cry himself to sleep once again, to let his despair define him, when suddenly the door was pushed open with force and his coach appeared in front of his teary eyes, his image disturbed and colors melted together.

"Get up, you still don't have the Grand Jété in your choreography down and the World Cup is in a few months, your mother would want you to get in at least this time around."  
The young boy released a shaky breath and nodded, standing up, holding himself up with his hands on the mirror.

Everything hurt, he didn't have to check to know his feet were bleeding, staining his white slippers but what his coach had said was true.  
He wasn't good enough yet.  
He needed to work hard to make his parents proud.  
He had to push through the hardships to get where his mother had always wanted him to be.  
These were the sentences that he had started to think of as a mantra, repeating them over and over and over again.

And Seonho danced.

He danced until the sun started shining through the windows of the practice room, irritating his eyes.  
He danced until he couldn't identify his surroundings anymore because everything he knew had started to consist of "higher, faster, prettier".  
He even kept dancing after his coach had left with a "Better. Not anywhere near good but better."

Dance was everything he had.  
It didn't matter that all it ever did was take and not give anything back.  
It didn't matter that he had to throw away his slippers after a few weeks because he would have danced through their fabric and the blood wasn't washing out anymore, leaving them a dirty brown.

It didn't matter. None of it did.

He had set himself a goal and he would do anything to achieve it.

At least that was what he told himself until he woke up the next morning with aching limbs and a giant black hole where his stomach used to be.

After a quick shower he got dressed and with a yawn he sat down next to his friends in breakfast hall.

"G'morning, losers", he greeted while stuffing his mouth with three sandwiches at the same time.  
Samuel shook his head, rolling his eyes at him.  
"You're gross, dude"  
He winced as Seonho threw him a kiss and the rest of their friend group laughed at his comically scrunched up face.

Seonho loved his friends.  
Being a student at one of the most recognised dance academies of the world sure was exhausting at some points but in moments like these he felt like a regular boy hanging out with his friends and it was a feeling he would never trade for anything.

"Where were you yesterday afternoon, though?", Taehyun asked him with a raised eyebrow, "Did you go to the sports center in twon again? You really should stop skipping class for that, honestly..." he sounded genuinely concerned but Seonho just waved him off when Jihoon chimed in with a look of utter disbelief on his face "I can't belive you would skip class to do even more ballet, are you crazy? Our average day literally consists of at least 5 hours of ballet."

The younger boy shook his head in disapproval "Hyung, I don't do this for the ballet, I do this-" "For the people, we get it" Samuel interrupted him impatiently "Have you ever met someone there though?"

Seonho leaned back to think about it "Well, that one time there was this boy that told me I looked like an idol which was why he even entered the studio but apart from tha-", suddenly a face flashed up in front of his eyes and he gasped, face-palming himself "Guanlinnie-hyung!" at his friend's questioning looks, he explained "There was a boy in class yesterday and we even made conversation! He's from Taipeh and I think it was his first time ever dancing ballet, he was really nice!"

Jihoon wiggled his eyebrows at him "Was he cuuuuute?", resulting in Seonho's cheeks flushing a pretty pink and Jihoon getting a hit to the back of his head by Taehyun who reminded him that "You have a boyfriend and Seonho is a baby, do not corrupt the child" which however led to Samuel laughing hysterically and exclaiming that Seonho was most definitely not as innocent.

Maybe Seonho had to take back his previous statement.  
He hated his friends.

**Author's Note:**

> I love ballet and the cube chicks and I hate doing homework so this is what happened!
> 
> This will probably be something that I will update only rarely bc time but I loved writing this first chapter, so I hope you enjoyed reading it!
> 
> I am by no means an english native so do tell me about mistakes I might have made so I can correct them c:
> 
> If you have any questions concerning the ballet steps/moves/exercises mentioned, feel free to ask me, I've been doing ballet myself for over 11 years now so I'd love to answer them ^^
> 
> Thanks again for reading, I hope you have a great day/night and lots of cookies!


End file.
